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Shakespeare presents a pivotal moment in the given extract, taken from Act I, Scene I of his tragedy; Shakespeare presents the volatility of power and the dangers of hubris through the characterisation of King Lear. The audience is presented with a dramatic exchange between a king who has just abdicated and his loyal subject, Kent, a truth teller who is used to highlight Lear's irrational and irresponsible leadership and his blindness.The intense interaction between Kent and Lear could be Shakespeare foreshadowing the chaos and disorder which consumes the tragedy. Shakespeare crafts the character of Lear here to present the dangers of an irrational monarch, reminding a contemporaneous audience of the political turmoil of their recent past. Shakespeare's use of violent language and exclamatory sentences demonstrates the beginning of Lear's lack of control and presents him as a tyrannical king.

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1. Shakespeare.

2. Audience.

3. Method stated in the first sentence.

4. A range of quotations from the extract.

5. Aspects of tragedy.

6. Explain why Shakespeare included the method.

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EDMUND SUPREMECY

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( king lear : bring me a caramel slice )

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this extract is the catalyst in Lears descent into madness, the pivotal moment for the familial personal and political chaos and disorder.

As the characterisation of Kent is presented as an altruistic strong servant to Lear, defending Cordelia’s actions which are being misguided as “pride” rather than truth, the audience is revealed to King Lear metaphorical blindness. Shakespeare crafts Lears metaphorical blindness as a construct to convey a warning of unliable kingship to the jacobean audience.

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Firstly, Shakespeare uses pathos to present Lear's love for his daughter, Cordelia when he reveals “ I loved her most to set my rest/ On her kind nursery.” Shakespeare reveals a more vulnerable side to Lear, contrasting this emotional language to the violent language used throughout the extract. Tragically, Lear is presented as lacking insight as he is swayed by Goneril and Regan's long, verbose speeches.

Yet, Lear cannot fathom this due to his metaphorical blindness as his hubris can’t let him understand that there is further meaning behind his daughter’s silence. The contemporary audience can understand that his inner turmoil is the early signs dementia and from a contemporaneous perspective this madness is evidence of the devastating impact of a pursuit of absolute power.

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Firstly, Shakespeare introduces King Lear's blindness in act 1 scene 1 by him dismissing Kent as he mistakes Kent’s true loyalty and honesty for flattery and dishonesty. Shakespeare uses zoomorphic imagery: “come not between the dragon and his wrath” to elucidate to a contemporaneous audience Lear's true unpredictability and anger that stemmed from the love test from earlier in act 1, after being deceived by both his daughters. The way Shakespeare has compared Lear to a mythical create like a dragon insinuates the idea that he views himself as a strong character and his violent pride who warns Kent to not interfere whith his impulsive desicion of banishing Cordelia. Utilising the metaphor ”wrath” depicts his true anger which could be veiwd as powerful or terrifying

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Firstly, Shakespeare uses a metaphor when King Lear says, “come not between the dragon and with wrath”. The use of zoomorphism instantly shows the audience that Lear thinks very highly of himself. The fact he thinks he is comparable to something as powerful as a dragon highlights Lears pride, which is one of the main reasons for his tragic downfall. Furthermore, the fact Lear is refusing to listen to Kent’s advice highlights his blindness. Shakespeare uses this to show how the effects which pride can have on you. Lear also criticises Cordelia when he says, “let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.” The fact that Lear is criticising Cordelia for having pride is ironic as he is very obsessed with pride himself. Perhaps Shakespeare uses irony here to once again highlight Lear’s blindness.

(unfinished)

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In the extract from King Lear, Shakespeare uses the quote ‘come not between the dragon and his wrath’ to highlight the blindness, extreme pride and fierce anger Lear has. The use of the metaphor can emphasise King Lear’s character as volatile through the description of him as a dragon. The use of the noun ‘dragon’ may perhaps link to Lear’s fierce anger and volatility because dragons breathe fire and anyone or anything in its path will be damaged. Furthermore, this can signify that Lear doesn’t consider that his actions and decisions as a king will ultimately result in consequences for him and his kingdom and if he recognises that then he has a lack of care. The lack of care can highlight strongly that he is becoming unfit to be a fulfilling king that brings peace to his land since he doesn’t care that his actions are irreparable. In addition, the noun links to the mythological creature because of its dangerous qualities, it could be seen as a very dominant creature, linking to Lear asserting his power in a detrimental way, as opposed to the way the Gods intended through the Divine Right of Kings. Lear opposing the Divine Right of Kings perhaps links to the love test he conducted on his daughters Goneril, Reagan and Cordelia earlier in Act One and dividing his kingdom up based on who acclaimed their love for him the most. Shakespeare also uses the phrase ‘come not between’, which illustrates how Lear continuously pushes his advisors away. Through Lear pushing Kent away, he is leaving himself vulnerable to people who plot against him because he has nobody protecting him. Kent attempting to come between Lear represents him attempting to protect Lear from making terrible decisions, such as banishing Cordelia during the love test when she replied “nothing”. Shakespeare may use Lear and Kent solely in this extract to exemplify Kent’s altruism to Lear because even though Kent knows going against the king’s orders and continuing to attempt advising Lear will result in consequences for himself, he still interferes and perhaps tries to rebuild Lear’s relationship with his banished daughter Cordelia. Moreover, the phrase may further emphasise that Lear’s downfall as king will continue throughout the play, serving as a foreshadowing warning that Lear is going to become more violent and possibly descend into madness. Contrastingly, Shakespeare may be presenting Lear as willingly ending the relationship he has with Kent by allowing the disagreement to cause a rift in their relationship that Lear feels must lead to the end of Kent’s position as advisor, Lear acts upon those thoughts by banishing Kent later in the act. Shakespeare perhaps uses the emotion ‘wrath’ to completely capture the full extent of Lear’s fierce anger and pride in his decisions. The use of the pronoun ‘his’ could pose as a clear juxtaposition between how Lear and the other people behave because the anger, pride and zoomorphic metaphor of a dominant animal belongs to Lear.

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Within Shakespeare’s tragedy, “king Lear”, the extended metaphor of “sight” is immediately used as a microcosm for ignorance and naïveté. This is displayed within the extract when Lear is asked by Kent to “see better”, after making the impulsive decision to to banish Cordelia. Shakespeare could be using this concept to challenge the integrity and qualities that the monarchy should represent, which could directly relate to the political turmoil of the era in which the play was performed. Therefore a Jacobean audience may relate closely to the ideologies that are presented, potentially feeling outraged by Lears outburst and rash decision making. However, a contemporary audience may view lears character through a more sympathetic lens, due to increased awareness of Lears age and symptoms of medical conditions such as dementia. The characterisation of Lears impulsiveness and ignorance of kent, commanding him “out of [his] sight”, establishes the play as a tragedy by connoting to key themes of tragic isolation and chaos and disorder. Therefore Lears lack of “sight” when making important decisions, presents him as a naive and ignorant leader, foreshadowing his inevitable tragic downfall.

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Firstly, Shakespeare characterises Kent as a virtuous servant, with a calm nature to juxtapose Lear's irrationality and chaotic behaviours; he does this to strike a warning to contemporaneous audiences of unreliable monarchy. King Lear's impulsive behaviours to banish Cordelia leaves altruistic Kent to defend her honour while guiding his king to "see better". The imperative for Lear to "see better" reveals to the audience Kent's unwavering loyalty to correct Lear's course, to command his master, to step up despite consequences to let him still, "remain the true blank of thine eye". Shakespeare uses the dramatic irony of Lear's metaphorical blindness and Kent's pleas of "thine eye" to directly criticise Lear's leadership as he is ignorant of the flattery of his daughters Regan and Goneril. The "blank" of an eye is white which is a key symbol of truth and transparency. From one perceptive this could parallel Kent and his "true blank" intentions, similar to Cordelia.

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In the extract Shakespeare presents King Lear as volatile through description of him as a dragon; the noun ‘dragon’ could be used by Shakespeare to demonstrate Lear’s pride and extreme anger - a dragon is a mythical creature, representing Lear as perceiving himself as divine and powerful; however, the audience see him as destructive and dangerous. Here Shakespeare is highlighting the dangers of a tyrannical leader. Furthermore,

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Shakespeare crafts Lear's initial tragic flaw as his overwhelming pride; this is immediately established in the extract given. This is shown in the line "come not between the dragon and the wrath"; the use of zoomorphism creates this idea of Lear as a powerful, almost mythical leader whose anger is untouchable. It further emphasises the idea of Lear being irrational which is not a substantial value to have as a king; this is implied by the connotations of dragon: hell, violence, danger. Shakespeare has Lear use an imperative, "come not" to highlight his hubristic nature and reveal his inflated sense of authority. This foreshadows when he is isolated on the heath and in the storm as he lets his judgement be clouded by flattery. Shakespeare further presents Lear's hubris when he states that the 'bow' is 'bent and drawn; make from the shaft'. The metaphor transforms Lear into a weapon made for conflict, suggesting that his rage is both self destructive and dangerous to those around him.

Shakespeare’s choice of militaristic imagery reveals how Lear’s pride has warped his sense of kingship, he rules through fear and impulsive power.